Leadership Style, Approach and Content of Leadership (Essay Sample)

Leadership and Organisational Behaviour
The Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the key personal attributes of Warren Buffett, examine his style, approach and context of leadership and evaluate the relationship between Buffett and his context of leadership. The paper relies on research and theory from credible sources.
Introduction: Who is Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett is one of the most famous U.S businessmen and a financial investors with an estimated net worth of USD 44 billion. He is rated among the best entrepreneurs in U.S and ranked as the third wealthiest individual in the world. Buffett’s business skills date back to his childhood where he did small businesses and made an estimated five thousand U.S dollars from his small businesses by the time he was graduating from high school. He has earned reputation for good leadership and entrepreneurial skills that make him a unique businessman.
Buffet was born in 1930 in Omaha and went to University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School where he studied for two years before proceeding to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. In 1951, he graduated from Columbia University with a Master in Business. According to Angelov, Hoomans and Teng (2009), Buffett’s education was motivated by Ben Graham; an influential investor who instilled in him the concept of intrinsic business value and how to separate the real worth of a business from the stock value that comes with it. This knowledge enabled Buffett to invest in different businesses. In 1956, Buffet partnered with a few other people to create Buffett Associates Limited. Through his partnerships and focused investments, he became a millionaire by 1962 (Angelov, Hoomans and Teng, 2009). Buffett bought Berkshire Hathaway as his first private investment in 1966 and has continued to invest in varying stocks and commodities since then. He is the owner and the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc which owns subsidiaries that engage in diverse business activities including insurance, rail and freight transportation, finance, utilities and finance, retailing and manufacturing services (Berkshire Hathaway, 2011). His personal attributes and business leadership approach have contributed to success of Berkshire Hathaway.
Key Personal Attributes of Warren Buffett
Buffett is a good listener and a good communicator. He is enthusiastic about what he does and leads by examples. He is intelligent and focused on his organizational mission and vision. Guided by his believes and personal attributes, he chooses his business investments wisely. Buffett believes that businesses that are productive and meaningful to society are the best ones to invest in because the society appreciates meaningful contributions made by such businesses to the people. He also believes that businesses with strong cash flow are more viable to invest in because they seem to be more sustainable. He prefers investments that have a proven track record of their performance and avoids investing in online business companies because it is not easy for the investor to predict if the stocks in the field will have decent values in future (Cunningham, 1998). Buffett argues that a business that is relatively easy to run is the best one to invest in and advises investors to always figure out how well they can operate their business rather than focusing on complicated points of running the business (Kilpatrick, 1994). He advocates for concentration in business rather than diversification. He further urges investors to make their own decisions and look at market fluctuations as their friends rather than their enemies. Evidently, Buffett approaches business decisions with caution and considers the consequences of such decisions before implementing them. He gives attention to people, puts effort to understand and make sense of his partners and shows empathy to his employees. He is loyal to his employees and his business partners and is considered to be a self motivated leader.
Leadership Style, Approach and Content of Leadership